The Undercover Resort Billionaire

by Chelsea Hale

  Her breathing became shallow again, like it had at dinner. What was wrong with her? She was definitely not looking for something right now. But there was something about Liam—the way he looked at her, the way he worked hard at his job. He’d jumped into the accelerated training program at the resort, and was driven. She wondered what his career path would look like and if they’d be compatible. If she was traveling all over to promote her purses, would he come too, or would he stay at one resort for the rest of his life? She shook her head. They’d had a business meeting last night, not a date. She wasn’t going to go down the rabbit hole of planning a future with him.

  She pulled her curled brown hair into a high ponytail and swiped on some lip gloss. She wasn’t trying to impress anyone, least of all Liam. She exited her room.

  “Good morning,” a familiar voice said.

  Callie jumped and turned to see Liam leaning against the black railing. It took a conscious effort to keep her breathing at a regular pace. “Hi.”

  “We have a few minutes before our shift starts, want to have breakfast together?”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. “Where?” They got their meals for free, and the three-digit price tag on dinner last night felt extravagant, though she’d had a great time with him. She wondered again why she’d brought up her past with him. She should have left it for another time, and not spoiled the moment. Oh well.

  He laughed. “With the other employees. I just wanted to talk with you.”

  Her heart began doing a tap dance. They were coworkers. She could have meals with coworkers. She did that every day. “Right, sure. We could have breakfast, unless you’re worried that I might have another meltdown like last night,” she said, joking.

  He smiled. “I don’t remember any meltdowns.”

  And just like that, he was practically perfect, and she was in so much trouble. He was overlooking her blubbering, and in the process, she might start blubbering to him all over again. Except this time, it would be about how wonderful and thoughtful he was. Liam was nothing like her ex, and the more she got to know him, the more she realized that with the right person, she’d be willing to try the falling in love thing again. She’d holed herself up for six months, working non-stop. Then Liam came into her life, and he was slowly but steadily making her believe that not all guys were lying jerks out to deceive her.

  “Thanks,” she finally said to him, realizing she’d been lost in her own thoughts.

  “Thanks? I didn’t do anything.” He walked alongside her. Just his presence was helping her to feel safe again. Secure.

  “You overlooked my meltdowns. I’m still a little embarrassed by how much you spent on dinner.” She eyed him. That part felt like a date. Like he was trying to impress her. “But more than that, thank you for restoring my faith in others, specifically guys. You have no idea how hard the last six months have been. Everything sets me on edge. Last night was the first time where I felt like I could be myself after the whole situation with my ex. Not all guys are lying jerks who are trying to deceive me. So, thank you for not being a lying jerk.”

  “Oh. You don’t need to thank me for that.” He cleared his throat, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

  Maybe she shouldn’t be quite so blunt with her emotions and feelings, but they’d been pent up so long it was freeing to have someone to talk to about her dreams as she worked on rebuilding them.

  “But I do. I haven’t shared any of my purse designs with anyone except my ex, and well, it’s been a hard first step. I know it’s still farfetched to ever see my purses in resorts, but your excitement about my designs brought me a little bit of hope.”

  He touched her arm then pulled back. “I’m here for you. That’s something you can count on. And however I can help you, I will. Just say the word.”

  The sincerity in his eyes pulled her in, not allowing her to blink or look away. He spoke like he had all the power in the world to make things happen. She smiled at his confidence, but there was something about him that made her believe for a moment that he really could make dreams come true. It was a silly thought and she dismissed it. He wanted to help, but there was nothing he could really do to help.

  “Just like that, huh? You’ll come up with my marketing plan and help me figure out who to talk to and make it all work?” A distant warning bell went off in her brain. Wasn’t this how Michael had started talking—like he could command the weather and economy and he could just make things happen?

  She mentally shook away the thought as it tried to drag her down. Liam wasn’t Michael. Liam was just trying to be helpful. He wasn’t trying to scam her out of her life savings like Michael did.

  Uncertainty passed across Liam’s face, and Callie tried her best to roll with it. He couldn’t really help her, even though he talked like he could. Still, he was being sweet.

  He cleared his throat. “It’s still going to be work, but I can help.”

  She swallowed her disappointment. What had she expected? That he’d really stayed up all night thinking about her and how to help her, just like she’d thought about him all night and what a great knight in shining armor he would be to come to her rescue. Ugh. One dinner out and her head and heart were playing tricks on her. Liam inspired hope in her, but she had no place for hope to go. “I know it will be a lot of work, and a lot of years.”

  He looked like he wanted to say something as they walked into the employees’ hall for breakfast. She grabbed some food and found a small table in the corner away from others. Liam followed her through the line, joining her at the table. They ate in silence for a few minutes, and she wished she could go back to ten minutes ago before she allowed herself to dream that something might change. She had her plan. It was a good, safe plan, and she needed to be okay with that. There were no shortcuts anymore. She wasn’t going to be stupid again with her money or with her dreams.

  “I might have some contacts that could help you with your ideas,” he said between bites. He was still thinking about her dreams, even as she tried to fit the expanded dream back into its tiny box to be dealt with when she had enough capital. It was sweet, but she didn’t need the extra disappointment.

  “Contacts?” she asked, intrigued to know what he meant.

  “I know a few people. I mean, I’ve been around resorts for a long time. I could make some calls and—”

  She didn’t need the broken promises again. It was fine that he really wasn’t in a position to help her. “It’s okay. Just talking through it with you last night has got me thinking about it again. I don’t expect you to help with anything else.”

  He nodded slowly. “You don’t think I can actually help you, do you?”

  Had she said those words aloud? Maybe he could read minds. “It’s not that,” she skirted around his question. “I’m still a little gun-shy when it comes to accepting help.”

  “Okay. Well, I do have solid contacts, so when you’re ready for them…” He didn’t finish the sentence as other employees joined the tables next to them.

  “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.”

  They changed the conversation topic and only discussed work for the rest of the meal. He’d train with someone else for the morning and that was a very good thing. She needed to clear her head that seemed to get foggy and light at the same time every time she was around this handsome, helpful, and charming man.

  Chapter 15

  Liam spent the morning working with Bud. He was fine enough, but Liam felt himself missing Callie’s conversation. And he missed her smile. And those lips that he’d watched for the last two days wondering how they would taste. He shook his head, mentally slapping himself for even thinking about kissing Callie. She had obviously been through a lot, and she had opened up to him during dinner last night. She was amazing and driven. Her determination to remake her life better after what she had lost was inspiring. What could she possibly see in Liam Allen? How could she be interested in him?

  She’d alluded more than once to the fact that he
was living an “easy” life working for a resort, enjoying amenities, and only daydreaming about owning resorts as a fun pastime. He wanted her to like him for him, the person. But the person he was to her was someone who was making minimum wage and borrowing his friend’s rental car. Ugh.

  Had she known that he was Liam Summers, the resort billionaire, and all that came with it, would she be impressed? He had the right contacts to help her achieve her dreams. But she didn’t know that, because right now he was Liam Allen. It was such a frustrating Catch 22. If she couldn’t like him for who he was, how could he ever trust that if she knew who he really was that she wouldn’t change her mind once she knew.

  But he wasn’t Liam Allen, not really. He was pretending to be someone he wasn’t, so why did he care that she wasn’t falling for him in his undercover state? The whole thing had his head spinning and it wasn’t even ten o’clock. He didn’t think he’d get headaches here. Those were usually reserved for days when he was dealing with lots of crises in multiple time zones at once.

  Bud trained him in some of the mechanical problems they had in the rooms, and Liam was able to get a firsthand visit to the older wing of the resort. It was pretty much in shambles. The rooms were cramped and dark. The decor wasn’t from this decade or the last, and the air conditioning units he was supposed to be learning how to fix had all seen better days.

  “Looks like you’re getting the hang of it,” Bud said after a couple of rooms of supervising Liam doing the work. “I’m going to go across the hall and start work on the other side. We have this whole floor to do before lunch. Just keep working down this hall and give a holler over your walkie-talkie if you get stuck on something.”

  Liam nodded. “I’ll do that, thanks.”

  He grabbed the bag full of tools and headed to the next room. He went through the same process, following all the steps that Bud had taught him.

  In the middle of one of the units, his phone buzzed. Sayler. He pulled out his earpiece and kept working on the air-conditioning unit while he answered, “You’re just who I need to talk to.”

  “You’re not by the pool. And I see a very pretty employee out here folding towels by herself. Did you give up on the pool area since you made quite the splash the other day?” Sayler laughed.

  “I’m in the middle of training with maintenance. This hotel wing is pretty worn down.” He needed to talk to her about work and the hotel, but right now he really wanted to get some clarity on what to do with Callie. Sayler always knew the right answers. “How do people do this?” Liam said in frustration.

  “Sorry, what subject are we on? Are you thinking about the headache it would be to remodel this place, because I agree with you. Though, from what I’ve heard from other guests, the main building has been remodeled recently, so I suppose the decor in my room is probably only fifteen years old.”

  “Let’s come back to that. I’m not getting anywhere with Callie.” He told her about their business meeting last night that he had hoped was going to be a date.

  “Liam, you can’t throw your money at her. You tried that and it didn’t work. She’s not impressed by it. In fact, she thinks that you’re way too indulgent.”

  “It was just The Cheesecake Factory,” he said.

  Sayler scoffed like she didn’t believe him.

  “It was a hundred-dollar meal; it wasn’t over the top.” He finished in the room he was in and walked down the hall to the next room.

  She laughed. “Callie thinks you’re making the same or less than she does. One hundred dollars is a lot. Of course, she’s going to be embarrassed by the price.”

  “This has never been a problem before. Women like it when I spend money on them.”

  “Yeah, well, you’ve found one that isn’t impressed by it. Maybe if she knew who you were, she’d realize that a hundred dollars is only a Happy Meal in your world, but she doesn’t.”

  Liam ran a hand through his hair. “What do I do, Sayler?”

  “You need to not try so hard.”

  “The meal wasn’t as fancy as I usually go to. I thought I was toning it down.”

  “You can’t have it both ways, Liam. You can’t be undercover and spend money on her. It doesn’t add up for her. You have to pick one.”

  He scrubbed his hand across his face. Had it been left up to him, he never would have chosen going undercover in the first place. He would have come out with an evaluation crew, made a decision on the property, and been done with this whole place. But then he never would have met Callie. “I’m going to tell her I’m undercover and that I’m a billionaire.”

  “Okay,” Sayler said, drawing out the word until she made it three syllables.

  He knew he couldn’t really do that. He continued looking at the air conditioning unit he was working on. The first thing it needed was a good cleaning. He sprayed a paper towel with some lemony cleaner and began wiping off the inside of the grate. “I know I can’t do that. It would just be easier if I could.”

  Sayler laughed. “No, it wouldn’t. Especially not if you’re going to be tearing this place down.”

  She was right. “From what I’ve seen today, this place will never fit into my line. I think we need to start looking for local wrecking companies and get an estimate on how long it will take to get this place torn to the ground. The sooner we start, the sooner we can rebuild and reopen.”

  Room after room had followed this same pattern, and he was convinced that the only thing to do with the entire resort was tear it down and start from scratch. He could leave the beaches and some of the landscaping out by the pools alone. It was better to protect the trees that were already happily growing where they were instead of digging them up and starting over, but everything else needed to go.

  A pause lasted for a long time on the other end. Just when he thought that maybe they’d been disconnected, Sayler said, “I’m on it. But making swift decisions in your professional life isn’t going to help you solve your personal one.”

  “You think that’s the wrong choice?” he asked.

  “You need to make the decision,” she said slowly.

  “Aren’t you my advisor?”

  “Are you promoting me? Because right now I’m your assistant. You tell me what you need and I assist. But this is your personal life, so you have to make the decision before I can help you with it.”

  “Getting awfully sassy, Sayler.”

  “You know you like it, and you can’t live without me.”

  “You’re right, I can’t.”

  He knew what he needed to do. He needed to tell Callie and be open with her. He knew he was already walking a fine line. He’d tell her as soon as his two weeks were up. That was only eight more days. Once his stipulations were done, he’d tell her who he was. He’d tell her everything. Then she’d believe that he could help her. The timing would work out for the best anyway. He wanted to get to know her a little bit better before he dropped it on her. He had just over a week to figure out if she could have feelings for him the person, not him the billionaire.

  He hung up and continued working on the air-conditioning unit, feeling a sense of pride in his work. This unit was clean, and already, it made the room look better. He paused in the doorway as he looked back into the room. Maybe with a little extra TLC … no … starting over was easier. It could then be exactly what he wanted.

  He left the room, nearly running into Bud who was standing by the door. “Sorry, Bud,” Liam said, not sure how he almost ran into him. Liam must have really been inside his own head thinking about this.

  Bud looked around nervously. “My fault, er, I just wanted to tell you something I forgot this morning.”

  “Okay,” Liam said.

  “If there are any guests in the rooms, we don’t do maintenance. Usually they’re all gone at this time of morning, but just in case… Unless guests call on a specific urgent maintenance problem, we always handle the repairs and maintenance when they are away from their rooms.”

  Liam nodded
his agreement. “I’ll make sure to knock a little louder before I enter the rooms,” he said, though so far, he hadn’t encountered anyone.

  Bud nodded, but almost seemed to peer around Liam as he shut the room door he came out of.

  “Let’s finish the next couple rooms and then we can break for lunch,” Bud said. “I have a few more employees I’m training after lunch, so I’ll let them finish up the rest of the floor.”

  When they finished their respective rooms, Liam found Bud in the hallway, standing next to the rolling cart that held spare parts for air-conditioning units and bathroom sinks. Each section was clearly labeled, and Liam placed his bag on the top of the cart where a space outlined in electrical tape marked the spot for tools.

  “Thanks for training me today,” Liam said.

  Bud nodded. “No problem, it’s been my pleasure. I love training people here. This place is like home to me. I can’t imagine my life without it.”

  Liam paused. “Resorts grow on people that way.”

  “This isn’t just any resort,” Bud said, puffing out his chest proudly. “It’s the best one in all of Jekyll Island. Ask any of the staff at the other resorts. Everyone wants to come here, and work here.”

  Sayler had done her research on Jekyll Island, and this resort was one of the oldest on the island. It stood out as a place that didn’t renovate or embrace the new.

  “Did you come from another resort?” Liam asked Bud, as they walked toward the employees’ lounge.

  Bud nodded. “Twenty-five years ago, and I haven’t looked back. You’re going to like it here, and you must have heard about the benefits enough to leave a place like you came from.” Bud put a hand on Liam’s shoulder. “This is the place people always want to come to.”

  Apparently, news about where Liam had transferred from had made it around through the employees. Bud’s words about the resort were touching. He could see that the benefits of this resort made it more appealing for employees, and he was glad that employees loved where they worked. He hoped that would mean that he could expect employees to gravitate back to the resort, once they rebuilt, if they kept the same living quarters and meals for employees as part of their package. He wasn’t used to the demolition part of the job, but his one experience of doing it in Aspen hadn’t taken as long as expected, thanks mostly to his staff and his competent team of lawyers in navigating the entire legal process.